Sillyness in Southern Arizona

[goodtimes]

I met up with a few members of the VV4W (VerdeValley 4 wheelers), and a couple of guys out from San Diego to run one of the harder trails in the Florence area. It is aptly named: Hiway to Hell

I gotta say, this is probably the hardest trail I have ever taken my jeep through, and I was woefully unprepared for this trail. In the end, I came out of it *relatively* unscathed (and I only say that because others came out much worse than I did). I won't be back on this one in my jeep. It was a ton of fun, with a pretty good group of guys, but my jeep just isn't set up for this kind of stuff. Usually when you run trails like this, the "redneck factor" goes way up. This group was probably the best I have encountered on the harder trails. There was no drinking (alcohol) on the trail, no leaving trash on the trail, everyone stayed on the trail....it was a good group.

Attached are a few pics. As I already mentioned, these vehicles are all on the trail.

Damage for the day: 1 xj tipped over, 2 fenders tweaked (one was mine), 1 broken windshield, one broken axleshaft, 1 broken crossmember (on the xj that tipped over), many small bumps, scrapes, and bruises. These pictures do this trail no justice at all. I had my TJ up on 1 tire at one point....I still don't know how I didn't end up wheels-up.....man was that a great trail. I just need a rock buggy before I do it again!

[VikingVince]

i'd like to do that trail......with a backpack and a hiking stick :wavey:

[Ursidae69]

You've been saying a lot recently that you had the urge to play on some rocks. Did this get it out of your system for a while? :p

Glad you didn't tear up the Jeep too bad. Where are the pics of your Rubicon? I want to see you on one wheel with a look on your face that says: "Am I going to roll? I think I just sharded!!" :hehe:

[+ d]

great pics!
man that looks burly, glad you made it through intact (even if slightly tweaked :o )

david

[flyingwil]

There are a bunch of guy that run that trail and every pic I see is the same... Way worse than I would want to be! H2H is a great trail for well thought out and rock crawling rigs! Glad to hear you made it through with only some fender damage. If I recall correctly 2 sas'ed Tundra's did it this year at AZ Rocks.

Nice Pic and thanks for keep us updated!


BTW how's the pootch? (didn't see the dog in any pics!)


WIL

[goodtimes]

I don't have any pics of my jeep because I was driving my jeep....hard to take the pics and drive at the same time. There is a 30 minute video posted over at JeepsUnlimited with a couple minutes worth of my little jeep (BTW, I was the only vehicle with less than 35" tires that ran the trail). I didn't bring Cherokee on this trip because her leg won't let her run along like she wants to...and the trail is rough enough that she wouldn't like the ride inside the jeep...so she got to stay home (boy was she mad at me too....). I'll link to the pics from other people as they post them.....

[goodtimes]

Here you go Chuck, a pic of my jeep on the 1st obstacle. If you look close, you can see my wrinkled up fender. The 2nd pic gives a little better perception of the kind (size) of rocks on the trail.....for reference, those are 35" tires on that jeep.

[desertgirl66]

Awesome pics Brian! Looks like a blast! Can you say "body damage" :smileeek:

Glad Cherokee is getting better.~~~Kristina

[The BN Guy]

Fun looking trail. Just not in my truck without more armor and lockers.

So how difficult was the uprighting?

[goodtimes]

Standing the XJ up wasn't too bad. There is a minor spur trail that runs perpendicular to that obstical...works great as a place to put a vehicle with a winch. There would be virtually no other way to stand a vehicle up in there.

Thanks for all the kind comments about my horrible photography skills (which are somewhat masked when shooting the Sonoran desert).

[jeffryscott]

Brian, is that trail also known as Elvis? And does it come out in Box Canyon?

I ask because I went with the Suzuki club a few months back on a night run up that way on a trail they called Elvis and it was similar looking, at least in the dark, and all the rigs that went were Samurai's on a minimum of 35s. Pretty crazy stuff ....

Glad you escaped relatively unharmed, there are some knarly trails up that way.

Jeff

[BajaTaco]

Damn, I'm impressed! 33's and minimal armor - and only a wrinkled fender?? Dayumm... yer good d00d!! I was wondering when you would get around to trying that one. Nice job

:clapsmile

Jeff, Elvis is a different trail in the same area.

[goodtimes]

Damn, I'm impressed! 33's and minimal armor - and only a wrinkled fender?? Dayumm... yer good d00d!! I was wondering when you would get around to trying that one. Nice job

:clapsmile

Jeff, Elvis is a different trail in the same area.

Well, a wrinkled fender, a few scratches, and a couple small areas of rock rash here and there....oh, and one bent tie rod. No, not the factory tie rod...but one made from 1.25" solid 4130 (chrome moly) with 1 ton rod ends.....not sure HOW I did that......

[crawldit]

Damn, I'm impressed! 33's and minimal armor - and only a wrinkled fender?? Dayumm... yer good d00d!! I was wondering when you would get around to trying that one. Nice job I'm going to have to agree. HTH on 33's with minimul damage is very impressive :clapsmile Goes to show that good driving skills and good spotters goes a looong ways :beer:

[kcowyo]

.....and one bent tie rod. No, not the factory tie rod...but one made from 1.25" solid 4130 (chrome moly) with 1 ton rod ends.....not sure HOW I did that......

GT----> :sport_box <----Rocks

[Ron B]

I don't come on the site very often, but it's nice to see someone doing a challenging trail. Besides, a little rock-rash or desert pinstriping just gives your vehicle some character. Don't fix it...get some more!

Ron B
'97 Hummer

[goodtimes]

I don't come on the site very often, but it's nice to see someone doing a challenging trail. Besides, a little rock-rash or desert pinstriping just gives your vehicle some character. Don't fix it...get some more!

Ron B
'97 Hummer

As I'm sure you have seen, most of the people over here are more interested in general exploration than rock crawling, so many of them don't see the harder trails too often. So every now and then I put up a couple pics for entertainment purposes. I probably won't "fix" any of the rock-rash, but I will cover up the bare metal with some paint to help prevent rust and continued paint peeling. The fenders will likely be cut off at some point and replaced with some steel tube, the rear quarters (which have some rash from a previous trip) will likely get covered in 3/16 cold rolled steel plate....all standard "jeep" stuff.

[Scott Brady]

Looks like a lot of fun Brian. I need to fix the water pump on the Jeep and hit the trail with you again soon.

[goodtimes]

We should do a weekend of "technical trails" up north sometime....Some of the "moderate" trails off of Table Mesa.....the terminators, raw deal, etc. Baja has been over a couple of them IIRC, and Mark over at 4wdtrips (crawler971????).....nothing as difficult as H2H though....